Balancing On-site Engagement

ABSTRACT

Encouraging broader engagement with a target publisher&#39;s content by balancing on-site topic engagement. Responsive to receiving notification of a recipient&#39;s request of an item of content from the target publisher, the on-site and off-site content consumption history of the recipient is analyzed. For each of a plurality of topics, historic engagement with on-site and off-site content is measured. Deficient topics having better off-site engagement than on-site engagement are detected. Content comprising links to items of content available from the target publisher which are characterized by deficient topics is selected and sent to the recipient. In an embodiment, the supplemental content comprises a plurality of links to other web pages on the target publisher&#39;s website which are sent to the recipient browser before the requested item of content finishes loading.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 15/912,221 entitled Balancing On-site Engagement by EvyatarRam, Akshay Patil, Chandra Cherukuri, Navin Viswanath, SokratisPapafloratos, Vijay Kalyanaraman, and Vikas Tiwari, filed on Mar. 5,2018, which claims priority to Greek Patent Application No. 20180100043,entitled “Balancing On-Site Engagement” by Evyatar Ram, Akshay Patil,Chandra Cherukuri, Navin Viswanath, Sokratis Papafloratos, VijayKalyanaraman, and Vikas Tiwari, filed on Feb. 9, 2018, all of which arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND Description of Related Art

Websites seek to present visitors with engaging content because engagedvisitors tend to make longer and more frequent visits which can bemonetized in various ways. For example, a query about local weather maybring a visitor to a news website. In an effort to extend the visitor'sengagement with the website, the visitor may be presented withsupplemental content, such as a list of links to suggested on-sitearticles about the topic that brought the visitor to the website. In aneffort to broaden the visitor's engagement with the website,supplemental content, such as links to other on-site content about avariety of different topics may also be presented. However, selectingwhich topics to present is a challenge.

An aggregate, retroactive analysis of on-site navigation of thewebsite's audience of visitors may reveal that visitors interested inlocal weather are often also interested in local sports scores.Accordingly, in an effort to broaden engagement with the audience, awebsite operator may present all visitors to the local weather web pagewith supplemental content related to local sports. For a more customizedexperience, a website operator could show repeat visitors contentrelated to their previously viewed on-site content. However, thissolution limits supplemental content to the subjects related topreviously viewed on-site content. Furthermore, this strategy could leadto over-exposure related to a narrow set of interests previouslyexpressed by the visitor and inhibit the discovery of content related tonew topics presented on the website which may be of interest to thevisitor.

What is needed is a way for a website operator to broaden engagementwith a website visitor through the presentation of relevant supplementalcontent, tailored to the website visitor's specific interests, withoutrisking over-exposure.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention include a method, a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and a system for providing supplementalcontent representing an adaptive, customized, and balanced set of topicsto a recipient. In an embodiment, a recipient's engagement with contentof a target publisher, such as a target website, (“on-site engagement”)is compared with the recipient's off-site media engagement, for each ofa plurality of topics. The recipient's media consumption history isanalyzed to select deficient topics. A deficient topic has an“engagement gap” meaning that historically, the recipient's off-siteengagement with a deficient topic is better than the recipient's on-siteengagement with the same deficient topic. For example, the novelrecommendation system can select deficient topics which are of interestto the recipient, but are under-represented in the recipient's on-sitemedia consumption history relative to the recipient's off-site mediaconsumption history. Responsive to a request for content, such as arequest for a web page, the recommendation system can present arecipient with supplemental content in conjunction with the requestedcontent. The supplemental content can represent a plurality of deficienttopics which are selected for the recipient responsive to the requestfor content and different from the topic of the requested content,encouraging continued and broad engagement with the target website. Inan embodiment, the recommendation system presents a volume ofsupplemental content representing a deficient topic in proportion to thedeficient topic's engagement gap according to the recipient's on-siteand off-site media consumption histories, enabling publishers to curatethe presentation of supplemental content to drive on-site recipienttopic engagement to more closely match off-site recipient behaviors,adapting to changes in on-site and/or off-site browsing behaviors.

In an embodiment, the recommendation system receives a notification of acontent request (e.g. a request for a web page) sent from a recipient,such as a browser, to a target publisher, such as a website operator.Websites and/or web pages may be characterized by one or more topics. Arecipient's engagement with a topic may be measured according to one ormore criteria, such as a “topic frequency” (a frequency of visitation towebsites characterized by that topic). Responsive to receiving thenotification, the recommendation engine determines an on-site topicengagement and an off-site topic engagement from the recipient's mediaconsumption history. For engagement measured according to topicfrequency, deficient topics having an off-site frequency greater thantheir corresponding on-site frequency in the recipient's history, aredetected. Supplemental content representing the deficient topics isselected and sent to the recipient. In an embodiment, topics which arebadly under-represented in the recipient's on-site media consumptionhistory will appear in the recommended supplemental content with afrequency that is higher than topics which are only moderatelyunder-represented. In an embodiment, the recommended supplementalcontent will only include topics which are under-represented by at leasta threshold amount (e.g. the difference between the off-site topicfrequency and the on-site topic frequency must be at least equal to athreshold value). Ideally, the supplemental content is delivered to therecipient before all of the content requested in the content request hasloaded.

Advantageously, embodiments of this novel recommendation system canexpose each recipient to a broad supply of relevant content withoutover-saturating the recipient with supplemental content of the sametopic. Furthermore, the supplemental content selected and sent by thesystem adapts to on-site and off-site browsing behaviors.

In an embodiment, the topics are automatically extracted for each itemof on-site and/or off-site content using natural language processing(NLP) techniques.

Embodiments of the computer-readable storage medium storecomputer-executable instructions for performing the steps describedabove. Embodiments of the system further comprise a processor forexecuting the computer-executable instructions.

The features and advantages described in the specification are not allinclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantageswill be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of thedrawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted thatthe language used in the specification has been principally selected forreadability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selectedto delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a computing environment for forbalancing supplemental content, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of supplemental contentselection, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a high-level block diagram of the components of a computingsystem for use, for example, as a balancing system, browser, targetpublisher, off-site publisher, and/or history system depicted in FIG. 1,in accordance with an embodiment.

The figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention select and send supplemental contentrepresenting a customized, balanced set of topics to a recipient such asa website visitor. A target publisher may seek to broaden a recipient'sengagement with their content venue, such as a website, withoutover-exposing the recipient to content related to a narrow set ofinterests. By presenting supplemental content representing deficienttopics, the target publisher can engage the recipient with on-sitecontent of interest. By detecting deficient topics, embodiments of theinvention help a publisher ask the question: “In what ways does aspecific recipient interact with content across the Internet that isdifferent from the way that recipient interacts with my content?” With aproportional selection scheme, the frequency of each deficient topicamong the selected items of supplemental content can be proportional tothe deficient topic's degree of under-representation, enabling thetarget publisher to focus effort on engaging the recipient withoutover-saturating the recipient in a particular topic, such as the topicthat brought the recipient to the target publisher's website or topicsof on-site web pages previously viewed by the recipient. Embodiments ofthe invention can adapt to changing on-site and off-site behaviors; so,as the recipient engages in a broader variety of topics on a targetwebsite or expresses a new interest in their off-site media consumption,the set of deficient topics will change, and the supplemental contentrecommended by the recommendation system will change accordingly. In anembodiment, a recipient can be an Internet browser; advantageously, theinvention can adapt to present relevant material, which is particularlyuseful when an Internet browser is shared by people having differentinterests and topic engagement patterns.

Embodiments of the invention are described below in the context ofInternet website browsing. It is noted that similar techniques as thosedescribed below can be used in the context of other kinds of content andcontent delivery systems (e.g. networked video delivery systems,networked television environments) as well. Such techniques areparticularly useful where accurate, timely results on large volumes offrequently updated measurement data are desirable to support rapiddecision-making in automated environments.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a computing environment forbalancing supplemental content, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. The computing environment includes recipients such asbrowsers 110, a target publisher 120, off-site publishers 130, a historysystem 140, and a balancing system 160. These elements are connected bya communications network 150, such as a local area network, a wide areanetwork, a wireless network, an intranet, a cable network, a satellitenetwork, a cellular phone network, an optical network, the Internet, orcombinations thereof.

Recipients can be users' browsers 110 such as web browsers executing onuser devices (e.g. personal computers, laptop computers, tabletcomputers, smartphones, etc.), as the users of those devices browse theweb. As users undertake their normal web browsing activities using thebrowsers 110, in one embodiment, data for some media consumption eventsis reported to the history system 140. A media consumption event is theact of accessing content over a network, such as, but not limited to,accessing a web page from a web server.

A variety of methods exist for associating a label with a web browser.For example, a software label such as a cookie value can be locallystored at a web browser. In other embodiments, labels can be composedand/or stored remotely from a device associated with the user. In somecases, a browser can have multiple labels, such as multiple first partycookies and multiple third party cookies, which can be set or exchangedwith various systems. A history system 140, such as a direct measurementsystem, can collect and/or receive information for a browser or a systemin conjunction with the label(s). In an example, when a browser requestscontent from a content provider, such as a target publisher 120 or anoff-site publisher 130, the content provider can direct the browser tosubmit a pixel request to the history server 130. The pixel request caninclude information, such as a label, and through this request andoptional subsequent actions and/or interactions, the history system 140can collect and/or receive information from the browser in conjunctionwith a label, such as a cookie value, in order to enable the maintenanceof a coherent body of information, such as a consumption history (i.e.history of consumption of media), a portion of a consumption history, aconsumption history score, a consumption history characterization and/ora consumption history digest, over time.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, the history server 140 receivesdata from the browsers 110. The received data enables the history system140 to record media consumption events in a data store (not shown) inconjunction with one or more labels, such as cookie values. In FIG. 1,history system 140 is shown as external to balancing system 160, but inother implementations, balancing system 160 may comprise history system140. Also, only one instance of a history system 140 is shown in FIG. 1for clarity, but in practice, a plurality of history systems 140 and/ordata stores may operate in conjunction with the balancing system 160.

Publishers provide content to recipients such as browsers 110. Webpages, online videos, audio content, and multimedia presentations areall examples of content that may be provided by a publisher to arecipient over a network 150. In an embodiment, publishers providecontent to a recipient responsive to receiving a request for the contentfrom a recipient. In FIG. 1, both target publisher 120 and off-sitepublishers 130 are examples of publishers. In an embodiment, targetpublisher 120 may be a website, comprising a plurality of web pages,which operates in a domain (e.g. targetpublisher.com) and is controlledby a business entity. Off-site publishers 130 may be other websites,each comprising a plurality of web pages, which operate in domains whichare distinct from the target publisher's domain; for example, in anembodiment, the domains of the off-site publishers are not sub-domainsof the target publisher's domain and the target publisher's domain isnot a sub-domain of any of the off-site publishers. The off-sitepublishers can be controlled by business entities other than thebusiness entity which controls the target publisher's domain.

In an embodiment, illustrated in FIG. 1, balancing system 160 comprisesa topic module 161, an engagement module 162, a selector module 163, anda database 165. Topic module 161 receives an item of content, such as aweb page, or a description of an item of content's location, such as aweb page URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and provides a set of one ormore topics associated with the item of content. In an example, topicmodule 161 may analyze an item of content, such as a web page, usingnatural language processing (NLP) to determine one or more topics of theweb page. For example, for an item of content comprising textualinformation, the frequency of related words in the textual informationmay be used to determine which topics best characterize that item ofcontent. In some cases, an item of content may comprisemeta-information, such as tags, which convey some or all of the topicsof the item of content. In some cases, topic module 161 may analyze anitem of content, and then assign topics to the item of content which arechosen from a limited set of topics. For example, the limited set oftopics may be chosen from a flat list of topics, a hierarchical taxonomyof topics, or both. In some cases, the limited set of topics may bemanually generated, automatically generated, limited to the set pftopics represented by the web pages of the target website, orcombinations thereof. In some cases, topic module 161 can analyze anitem of supplemental content and characterize the item of supplementalcontent with one or more topics.

In an embodiment, the topic module 161 may characterize an item ofcontent by determining one or more topics for an item of content. Insome cases, the topic module may also determine one or morecorresponding topic strengths for some or all of the item of content'stopics. A topic's strength reflects how well the topic represents themeaning of the item of content. For example, a topic's strength mayreflect how frequently words, sounds, and/or images associated with thetopic occur within an item of content or how frequently they occurcompared to the frequency with which words, sounds, and/or imagesassociated with other topics occur within the item of content.Similarly, a topic's strength may reflect the size and/or position ofwords, sounds and/or images within the item of content. For example, aword related to a topic (e.g. a synonym of a topic), which appears inlarge, bold font in the title of an article appearing near the top of aweb page may make a large contribution to increasing a topic's strengthfor that web page whereas a word which appears in small font or a smallimage appearing near the bottom of a web page may contribute very littleto a topic's strength.

In some cases, a topic's strength may characterize a measure ofconfidence that the characterization is accurate. For example, topicmodule 161 may analyze an item of content, such as a web page, usingnatural language processing (NLP) to determine one or more topics of theweb page, with each topic having a measure of confidence. For example,an output of a NLP classification process might be: 70% chance that theweb page is about donuts, 30% chance that the web page is not aboutdonuts. The measure of confidence (e.g. 0.7 or 70% chance that the webpage is about donuts) may be used to discount the topic's strengthproportional to the measure of confidence, with lower measures ofconfidence discounting a topic's strength more than higher measures ofconfidence. For example, a preliminary topic strength may be determinedby the topic module 161 according to the position, size, and/orfrequency of a words related to a particular topic in a web page; thepreliminary topic strength may be multiplied by the measure ofconfidence (e.g. 0.7 in the example above) to generate the topicstrength.

Engagement module 162 determines a measure of topic engagement for abrowser 110 with a set of items of content. A recipient's history candocument a set of items of content received from publishers. Forexample, history system 140 may have collected a browsing historycomprising web pages visited by a browser 110; the web pages of thebrowsing history can include web pages sent from the target publisher120 as well as web pages sent from off-site publishers 130. Thebalancing system 160 can receive a recipient's history, such as a listof web pages visited, directly from the browsers 110, via a historysystem 140, or combinations thereof.

In an embodiment, the topic module 161, described above, may determinetopics of the web pages visited by the browser 110, including web pagesof the target publisher 120 and web pages of the off-site publishers130. In an example, the engagement module 162 may determine a browser'smeasure of engagement with a topic (“topic engagement”) for a set ofitems of content according to a visitation frequency (e.g. the frequencywith which the browser 110 visits web pages characterized by the topic).For example, engagement module 162 can determine a visitation frequencyfor web pages of the target publisher 120 visited by the browser 110which are characterized by a particular topic; this “on-site” topicengagement reflects the browser's intensity of engagement with contentfrom the target publisher 120 for a particular topic. In an example, theengagement module 162 may determine a browser's “on-site” topicengagement for each of a plurality of topics.

Similarly, engagement module 162 can determine a browser's measure ofengagement with a topic (“topic engagement”) for a set of items ofcontent for web pages of the off-site publishers 130 visited by thebrowser 110; this “off-site” topic engagement reflects the browser'sintensity of engagement with content from publishers other than thetarget publisher 120 for a particular topic. In an example, theengagement module 162 may determine a browser's “off-site” topicengagement for each of a plurality of topics. In an embodiment, forefficiency, the plurality of topics may be limited to the topics of thetarget publisher's web pages.

In an example, each web page visit in a browser's history may beanalyzed and a measure of topic engagement may be determined for eachweb page visited (web page topic engagement), each web page visit (webpage visit topic engagement), or combinations thereof. For example, foreach topic, an off-site topic engagement may be determined by summingall of the web page measures of topic engagement for web pages visited,other than the web pages of the target publisher 120; similarly, foreach topic, an on-site topic engagement may be determined by summing allof the web page measures of topic engagement for the visited web pagesof the target publisher 120.

In another example, an off-site topic engagement may be determined bysumming all of the web page visit measures of topic engagement forvisits to web pages other than the target publisher 120; for each topic,an on-site topic engagement may be determined by summing all of the webpage visit measures of topic engagement for visits to the web pages ofthe target publisher 120. Determining topic engagement according to webpage visit can emphasize the role of frequency, as contributions to thetopic engagement from a web page that it is visited frequently willaccumulate over time.

In an embodiment, individual measures of web page topic engagement orweb page visit topic engagement may be weighted before summing. Forexample, for each topic, each measure of web page topic enagagement orweb page visit topic engagement may be weighted according to the topic'stopic strength, which may be received from the topic module 161. In anexample, a weight may be applied to reflect a duration of a websitevisit, a frequency of website visitation (e.g. number of times a webpage was visited in a time window), or an importance of an interactiontype (e.g. emphasize a window resize interaction by applying a heavyweight, de-emphasize an exposure of less than thirty seconds by applyinga fractional weight or eliminating the web page measure of topicengagement from the sum). Other examples of weighting can includeweighting according to duration of engagement (e.g. residence on a webpage measured in elapsed time, time spent interacting with a web page byactively mousing or scrolling), number of specific actions (e.g.logons), display screen size, display window size, screen resolution,volume setting, indications of the quality of engagement or combinationsthereof.

Selector module 163 can detect one or more deficient topics for browser110. A browser 110 has a deficient topic when the browser 110 exhibitsbetter off-site engagement with a particular topic than it exhibitson-site. Detecting deficient topics for browser 110 means detectingtopics having an “off-site” engagement that is stronger than theircorresponding “on-site”engagement according to the history of browser110. The difference between on-site engagement and off-site engagementcan be called an engagement gap. In some embodiments, the selectormodule 163 may only detect deficient topics when the engagement gap isat least as large as a threshold amount.

Selector module 163 selects supplemental content from the targetpubisher 120 representing a recipient's deficient topics. For example,the target publisher 120 can be a specific website, comprising aplurality of web pages, and the supplemental content can comprisecontent available from the specific website, such as web pages,streaming content, or downloadable content. In some cases, thesupplemental content may comprise text, pictures, videos, audio content,multi-media content or combinations thereof. In some cases, supplementalcontent may comprise one or more links, such as URLs, or locations, suchas a file path or ftp (file transfer protocol) location, which lead toadditional content such as another web page or other content availablefrom the target publisher 120.

In an embodiment, selector module 163 selects the supplemental content.In an example, the selector module 163 can select supplemental contentaccording to one or more selection criteria. A measure of the on-siteunder-engagement of a deficient topic is an example of a selectioncriteria. The enagement gap, a measure of the gap between a browser'son-site engagement and off-site engagement for a specific topic, is anexample of a measure of under-engagement. A deficient topic exhibitingstrong under-engagement (e.g. which has an on-site engagement which ismuch less than its corresponding off-site engagement) may be selected infavor of a deficient topic with a smaller engagement gap. For example, adeficient topic which is absent from or strongly under-represented in abrowser 110's on-site media consumption history compared to itscorresponding off-site media consumption history may be selected infavor of a deficient topic which is not as strongly under-represented.In an embodiment, the selector module 163 selects one or more items ofsupplemental content according to the topic of the supplemental content(e.g. supplemental content characterized by one or more deficienttopics).

In an example, a plurality of items of supplemental content representinga plurality of different topics may be selected. The selected item(s) ofsupplemental content may, in aggregate, have a topic frequencyproportional to a measure of on-site under-engagement for eachrespective deficient topic represented by the selected item(s) ofsupplemental content. In an embodiment, the selector module 163 may rankthe deficient topics according to engagement gap and/or one or morecriteria. The selector module 163 may select items of supplementalcontent characterized by deficient topics according to the rank of thedeficient topics, so that items of supplemental content characterized byhigh-ranking deficient topics are selected in favor of items ofsupplemental content characterized by lower-ranking deficient topics.

In an embodiment, a selection criterion of selector module 163 can be ameasure of uniqueness of the supplemental content's topic. For example,supplemental content characterized by a deficient topic which isrelatively rare (e.g. occurring with a frequency less than a thresholdvalue on English language websites, occurring with a frequency less thana threshold value in browsing histories of Internet visitors, etc.) maybe preferentially selected by the selector module 163. For example,supplemental content characterized by a rare deficient topic may beselected in favor of supplemental content which is characterized by amore common deficient topic, even if the supplemental contentcharacterized by the more common deficient topic has a larger engagementgap than the supplemental content characterized by the rare deficienttopic.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating a method of supplemental contentselection, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In someimplementations, the steps are performed in an order other than theorder presented in FIG. 2, and in other implementations, additional oralternative steps may be performed.

In the scenario illustrated in FIG. 2, a recipient requests an item ofcontent from a target publisher. For example, a user may operate browser110 and navigate to a web page of a target publisher 120 (e.g. a targetwebsite) that includes a slot which can contain supplemental content,such as links to other web pages of the target website. The recipientrequests the item of content (e.g. the web page) from the targetpublisher 120. In step 201, a notification of the request for an item ofcontent is received by the balancing system 160. The notification may bereceived from the target publisher 120, the recipient (e.g. browser110), or both. The notification may comprise information which allowsthe balancing system 100 to access a media consumption history of therecipient (e.g. a browsing history) from a database 165, a historysystem 140 or both, such as a label. In some cases, the notification maycomprise some or all of the recipient's media consumption history.

In step 202, the on-site engagement of the recipient is determined withrespect to each of a plurality of topics. In an embodiment, therecipient's history of browsing other items of content of the targetpublisher (e.g. other web pages of the target publisher's website) isanalyzed. Each item of content may be characterized by one or moretopics. In some cases, an item of content's topic has an associatedstrength which can be used to modulate the impact of a visit to the itemof content may have on the topic's measure of engagement. A measure ofthe recipient's engagement with a particular topic may be determinedaccording to one or more criteria such as, but not limited to, duration,frequency and/or type of engagement with items of content characterizedby the particular topic.

In step 203, the off-site engagement of the recipient is determined withrespect to some or all of the plurality of topics. In an embodiment, therecipient's history of browsing items of content over a network,excluding itemd of content of the target publisher is analyzed. Forexample, the recipient's history of browsing websites other than atarget publisher's website may be analyzed to determine the off-siteengagement of the recipient for each of a plurality of topics.

In step 204, deficient topics are detected. A deficient topic has an“engagement gap” meaning that historically, the recipient's off-siteengagement with a deficient topic is better than the recipient's on-siteengagement with the same deficient topic. In some cases, the measure ofoff-site engagement with a topic must be greater than the on-siteengagement with the same topic by at least a threshold value to bedeemed a deficient topic. In some cases, a topic's off-site engagementmust meet a minimum engagement criteria to be a deficient topic; in thisway, topics of little interest to the recipient may be excluded from thesupplemental content.

In step 205, supplemental content characterized by deficient topics isselected. The supplemental content comprises content, such as links towebpages on the target publisher's website. In an example, thesupplemental content comprises a plurality of links representing contentavailable through the publisher's website representing a plurality ofdifferent topics. In some cases, the plurality of topics represented bythe linked supplemental content is proportional to the engagement gapsof the respective deficient topics. For example, if a recipient'sengagement gap for a first deficient topic is twice the size of theengagement gap for the recipient's second deficient topic, links toon-site content characterized by the first topic may be selected with afrequency that is twice the frequency of links to on-site contentcharacterized by the second topic.

In step 206, selected supplemental content is sent to the recipient. Inan embodiment, to avoid interfereing with the recipient's mediaconsumption experience, the selected supplemental content is sent to therecipient before the requested item of content has finished beingdisplayed to the end user. For example, supplemental content comprisinglinks to other web pages of a target publisher's website must berendered on the end-user's display before the requested item of contentfinishes loading.

In some implementations, the process illustrated in steps 201 through206 of FIG. 2 can be executed very quickly. Ideally, the time passagebetween the browser 110 requesting the the item of content and the userviewing the item of content and the supplemental content is short enoughnot to impact the user's enjoyment of the target publisher's websitethat the user is browsing. To achieve this, the time passage betweenstep 201 when the notification is received by the balancing system andstep 206 when the supplemental content is sent to the recipient must bevery short.

Additional Embodiments

The description above has focused primarily on the example of arecipient which is a browser 110, items of content comprising web pages,and supplemental content comprising links to web pages, with both atarget publisher 120 and off-site publishers 130 comprising webpublishers. It is understood that embodiments of the invention areapplicable to other types of networked recipients, types of items ofcontent available over a network, types of supplemental contentavailable over a network, types of networked publishers, or combinationsthereof. For example, other types of networked recipients may comprisenetworked gaming consoles, networked televisions, mobile phones, mobiledevices, mobile applications, etc. Other types of items of content maycomprise interactive content delivered over a network such as networkedgames, video content delivered over a network, mobile phone applicationswhich receive content over a mobile network, or combinations thereof.Other types of supplemental content may comprise video content, in-gamecontent, audio content, etc. Other types of publishers may comprisevideo streaming services, gaming servers, mobile application servers,etc. In some embodiments, on-site engagement, off-site engagement orboth may be determined according to consumption histories of a pluralityof different types of content. For example, a recipient's topicengagement may be determined according to both a video streaming historyand a browsing history.

Physical Components of a Computer

FIG. 3 is a high-level block diagram of the components of a computingsystem 300 for use, for example, as a balancing system 100, browser 110,target publisher 120, off-site publisher 130, and/or history system 140depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment. Illustrated are atleast one processor 302 coupled to a chipset 304. Also coupled to thechipset 304 are a memory 306, a storage device 308, input device(s) 310,a network adapter 312, and a graphics adapter 314. A display 316 iscoupled to the graphics adapter 314. In one embodiment, thefunctionality of the chipset 304 is provided by a memory controller hub320 and an I/O controller hub 322. In another embodiment, the memory 306is coupled directly to the processor 302 instead of the chipset 304.

The processor 302 is the hardware logic circuitry of the computer 300that processes instructions such as computer programs to operate ondata. The memory 306 holds instructions and data used by the processor302. The storage device 308 is any non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium, such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory(CD-ROM), DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The input devices(s) 310may be a keyboard, mouse, track ball, touch-sensitive screen and/oranother type of pointing device to input data into the computer 300. Thenetwork adapter 312 couples the computer 400 to a network. The graphicsadapter 314 displays images and other information on the display 316.

As is known in the art, a computer 300 can have different and/or othercomponents than those shown in FIG. 3. In addition, the computer 300 canlack certain illustrated components. In one embodiment, a computer 300acting as a server may lack an input device 310, a graphics adapter 314,and/or a display 316. Moreover, the storage device 308 can be localand/or remote from the computer 300 (such as embodied within a storagearea network (SAN)).

As is known in the art, the computer 300 is adapted to execute computerprogram modules for providing the functionality described herein. Asused herein, the term “module” refers to computer program logic utilizedto provide the specified functionality. Thus, a module can beimplemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment,program modules are stored on the storage device 308, loaded into thememory 306, and executed by the processor 302. The functionalityattributed to the modules can be performed by other or different modulesin other embodiments. Moreover, this description occasionally omits theterm “module” for purposes of clarity and convenience.

Additional Configuration Considerations

Some portions of the above description describe the embodiments in termsof algorithmic processes or operations. These algorithmic descriptionsand representations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs comprising instructions for executionby a processor or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or thelike. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times to refer tothese arrangements of functional operations as modules, without loss ofgenerality. The described operations and their associated modules may beembodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.

The disclosed embodiments also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructedfor the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on acomputer-readable medium that can be accessed by the computer. Such acomputer program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium,such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks,optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories(ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic oroptical cards, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or anytype of computer-readable storage medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore,the computers referred to in this disclosure may include a singleprocessor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designsfor increased computing capability.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment. In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed todescribe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is donemerely for convenience. This description should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it isobvious that it is meant otherwise.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciatestill additional alternative structural and functional designs of thedisclosed embodiments and applications. Thus, while particularembodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it isto be understood that the present invention is not limited to theprecise construction and components disclosed herein and that variousmodifications, changes and variations which will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation and detailsof the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: responsive to receivingnotification of a browser's request of a web page of a target website,the target website comprising a plurality of web pages, each web pagehaving an on-site topic and each on-site topic having an on-site topicstrength: measuring the browser's on-site engagement with each of aplurality of topics according to visits by the browser to a plurality ofweb pages of the target website and according to the on-site topicstrength of each of the plurality of topics corresponding to each of theplurality of web pages, wherein the plurality of web pages of the targetwebsite operate in a first domain; measuring the browser's off-siteengagement with each of the plurality of topics according to visits bythe browser to a plurality of off-site web pages, each of the pluralityof off-site web pages having an off-site topic corresponding to one ofthe plurality of topics, wherein the plurality of off-site web pagesoperate in a second domain; detecting deficient topics based on thedifference between the on-site engagement and the off-site engagement ofeach of the plurality of topics; selecting an item of content availablefrom the target website corresponding to a deficient topic; andproviding the item of content to the browser.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein measuring the browser's on-site engagement with each of theplurality of topics according to visits by the browser to the pluralityof web pages of the target website is further according to a type ofinteraction by the browser during visits to each of the plurality of webpages of the target website.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein measuringthe browser's on-site engagement with each of the plurality of topicsaccording to visits by the browser to the plurality of web pages of thetarget website is further according to a frequency of visitation by thebrowser to each the plurality of web pages of the target website.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein detecting deficient topics based on thedifference between the on-site engagement and the off-site engagement ofeach of the plurality of topics comprises: determining an engagement gapcorresponding to each of the plurality of topics by subtracting thecorresponding measured on-site engagement from the correspondingmeasured off-site engagement; and detecting deficient topics having apositive engagement gap.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein selecting theitem of content comprises: ranking deficient topics according to theirrespective positive engagement gaps; and selecting the item of contentaccording to the ranked deficient topics.
 6. The method of claim 4,wherein detecting deficient topics having a positive engagement gapcomprises detecting deficient topics having a positive engagement gapgreater than a threshold amount.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein: theitem of content comprises a link to content available from the targetwebsite other than the requested web page of the target website.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein: the item of content comprises one of a textcontent, an image content, a video content, an audio content, and amultimedia presentation.
 9. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium storing processor-executable computer program instructions that,when executed, cause a computer processor to perform a method, themethod comprising: responsive to receiving notification of a browser'srequest of a web page of a target website, the target website comprisinga plurality of web pages, each web page having an on-site topic and eachon-site topic having an on-site topic strength: measuring the browser'son-site engagement with each of a plurality of topics according tovisits by the browser to a plurality of web pages of the target websiteand according to the on-site topic strength of each of the plurality oftopics corresponding to each of the plurality of web pages, wherein theplurality of web pages of the target website operate in a first domain;measuring the browser's off-site engagement with each of the pluralityof topics according to visits by the browser to a plurality of off-siteweb pages, each of the plurality of off-site web pages having anoff-site topic corresponding to one of the plurality of topics, whereinthe plurality of off-site web pages operate in a second domain;detecting deficient topics based on the difference between the on-siteengagement and the off-site engagement of each of the plurality oftopics; selecting an item of content available from the target websitecorresponding to a deficient topic; and providing the item of content tothe browser.
 10. The medium of claim 9, wherein measuring the browser'son-site engagement with each of the plurality of topics according tovisits by the browser to the plurality of web pages of the targetwebsite is further according to a type of interaction by the browserduring visits to each of the plurality of web pages of the targetwebsite.
 11. The medium of claim 9, wherein detecting deficient topicsbased on the difference between the on-site engagement and the off-siteengagement of each of the plurality of topics comprises: determining anengagement gap corresponding to each of the plurality of topics bysubtracting the corresponding measured on-site engagement from thecorresponding measured off-site engagement; and detecting deficienttopics having a positive engagement gap.
 12. The medium of claim 9,wherein: the item of content comprises a link to content available fromthe target website other than the requested web page of the targetwebsite.
 13. A system comprising: a processor; and a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computerprogram instructions that, when executed, cause a computer processor toperform a method, the method comprising: responsive to receivingnotification of a browser's request of a web page of a target website,the target website comprising a plurality of web pages, each web pagehaving an on-site topic and each on-site topic having an on-site topicstrength: measuring the browser's on-site engagement with each of aplurality of topics according to visits by the browser to a plurality ofweb pages of the target website and according to the on-site topicstrength of each of the plurality of topics corresponding to each of theplurality of web pages, wherein the plurality of web pages of the targetwebsite operate in a first domain; measuring the browser's off-siteengagement with each of the plurality of topics according to visits bythe browser to a plurality of off-site web pages, each of the pluralityof off-site web pages having an off-site topic corresponding to one ofthe plurality of topics, wherein the plurality of off-site web pagesoperate in a second domain; detecting deficient topics based on thedifference between the on-site engagement and the off-site engagement ofeach of the plurality of topics; selecting an item of content availablefrom the target website corresponding to a deficient topic; andproviding the item of content to the browser.
 14. The system of claim13, wherein measuring the browser's on-site engagement with each of theplurality of topics according to visits by the browser to the pluralityof web pages of the target website is further according to a type ofinteraction by the browser during visits to each of the plurality of webpages of the target website.
 15. The system of claim 13, whereinmeasuring the browser's on-site engagement with each of the plurality oftopics according to visits by the browser to the plurality of web pagesof the target website is further according to a frequency of visitationby the browser to each the plurality of web pages of the target website.16. The system of claim 13, wherein detecting deficient topics based onthe difference between the on-site engagement and the off-siteengagement of each of the plurality of topics comprises: determining anengagement gap corresponding to each of the plurality of topics bysubtracting the corresponding measured on-site engagement from thecorresponding measured off-site engagement; and detecting deficienttopics having a positive engagement gap.
 17. The system of claim 16,wherein selecting the item of content comprises: ranking deficienttopics according to their respective positive engagement gaps; andselecting the item of content according to the ranked deficient topics.18. The system of claim 16, wherein detecting deficient topics having apositive engagement gap comprises detecting deficient topics having apositive engagement gap greater than a threshold amount.
 19. The systemof claim 13, wherein: the item of content comprises a link to contentavailable from the target website other than the requested web page ofthe target website.
 20. The system of claim 13, wherein: the item ofcontent comprises one of a text content, an image content, a videocontent, an audio content, and a multimedia presentation.